Don't hang up! When developers hear the word localization, they tend to tune out. It's true that the topic of localization on its own is a bit drab, but that's exactly why the Multilingual App Toolkit (MAT) was invented. If you are interested in extending your app's reach with minimal effort, try…

Susumu Harada is a Ph.D grad in the Computer Science and Engineering department at University of Washington. He invited me over to see a system he built, which allows someone to paint pictures using a voice-controlled mouse. Though the practical applications
of this include other uses, drawing is…

Hey folks, starting a few years back, Channel 9 has been working to add caption support to our videos. There are two sides needed to make this happen; first we needed support in our code to store the captions, associate them with a video and display them in our primary players (Silverlight and HTML…

Recently Daniel Hubbel from the Windows team met with us to talk about the Ease of Access features in Windows. Last week he invited us over to see the lab where all of these features are tested. The lab, tucked away behind a discreet door in a typical Microsoft hallway, is setup with a living room…

It seems the magnitude and thoughtfulness of Microsoft never ceases to amaze me. I recently learned about a team called the Disability Employee Resource Group and found out they do some AMAZING things for Microsoft. Initially I was intrigued by the offering of free sign language classes, but as…

Today's project is a combined hardware and software and hardware project. Many of us are gamers, and being here, there's a good chance you might be a XBOX One owner. First, you have this cool new controller and really want to use in on your PC and being a dev you want to use it in your app's too?…

Daniel Hubbell from the Windows Accessibility team joins me to talk about some of the features in the Windows 8 Ease of Access section. You may remember Daniel from a previous interview we did looking at his lab here on campus. While the Ease of Access panel is often used by those with disabilities,…

When you are designing an app, it's important to think about all of the people who will use it, including those with disabilities such as visual, mobility, hearing, and cognitive impairments. In the United States alone, 36 million people have a disability and worldwide that figure is estimated…

In Windows 8, people who are blind can use Narrator to access their machines. This video discusses some additional design aspects on how you as an app developer can design your app to work well with Narrator. These considerations will help to ensure that people with vision impairments have a great…

This video shows how Windows 8 will help users with visual impairments to enjoy Windows 8 touch first interface by using Magnifier and Narrator. http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2012/02/14/enabling-accessibility.aspx